


of campfires and chaos

by rosesteaandklance



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/M, M/M, Vibing, don’t know why I can’t change it but this is multichaptered!!!, eddie is confused, richie is whipped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23503429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesteaandklance/pseuds/rosesteaandklance
Summary: Eddie has always been able to control his life. But when new feelings arise, for the first time, he’s left defenseless. Richie is still in love with the same oblivious boy. Bill just wants to be seen, Ben just wants to be loved, Stan wants to break out of his shell, Bev wants to live, Mike wants a break and Georgie just wants to be left alone.Or, The Losers Club grew up together at Camp Neibolt. Now they’re nineteen and full-fledged counselors. With budding romance, crazy kids and a whole lot of responsibility, it’s sure to be one hell of a summer.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Previous Richie Tozier/Beverly Marsh
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	of campfires and chaos

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! so I haven’t been here in a while.....but! with the whole self-isolation thing, I have plenty of time and inspiration on my hands! I’ve recently been into It and I noticed there are very few camp counselor AUs which is crazy so I’m here to change that. This AU was inspired by the TikTok user @noodle.spine101 who has a pretty awesome AU going on. Thanks for the inspiration! Hopefully this will update semi-regularly because I don’t have many excuses anymore.

George Denbrough is going to murder his brother. The sun is still rising, the birds aren't even chirping, and yet this DEMON child with an unnatural amount of energy in the morning is wailing at his doorway.

"Wake upppp, Georgie! It's time for camp!" George groans and pathetically attempts to fling a pillow at him from across the room. It bounces off the wall.

"Bill, it's six in the morning and I don't need to be at camp until 9! And it's GEORGE, not Georgie!"

Bill chuckles and moves towards the door. "Alright dude, but if you go with me, you can hang out with Ellie while we have the big meeting." 

Now THIS is something George can sign up for. Ellie Tozier, Richie's little sister, has been George's best friend since diapers. She's wicked smart and athletic, with just enough snark to know she's related to Rich. She's the only one allowed to call him Georgie now. Ellie goes to boarding school across the state and only comes home for the summer, so this will be the first time he sees her since last summer.

"You should've just started with that, dumbass," George says as he sits up and slips out of his covers. "Language!," Bill scolds, but George can't find it in him to retort back. After all, Ellie is his favorite person ever and Bill just gave him one hour to hang out with her before all the craziness begins.

George grabs his green "Camp Neibolt" shirt and basketball shorts from the dresser and gets ready for the day, as fast as a fourteen year old boy who got four hours of sleep can. He's just grabbing his backpack when he hears Bill's car start up. He barrels down the stairs because Bill is a little shit who would totally leave him. 

When he reaches the car, he climbs into the passenger seat and slips his headphones over his head. They have about a half an hour drive ahead of them, and George fulls intends the milk the last of his internet access. 

At last, the view of an old wooden sign marks that they've arrived at their destination. The sign, simply inscribed with "Camp Neibolt," had been around longer than George had even been alive. He noticed that someone spray painted a clown on the back and he held back a chuckle. There was plenty of time for Bill to worry about that.

They park in the spaces reserved for counselors (perks of having a big brother), and head towards the main house where they can already see their friends gathered. George can spot Ellie's mane of dark curls from a mile away, and runs towards her as Bill walks over to the Losers. "Georgie!," Ellie screams as she wraps him in a tight embrace. "Hi Ellie," he chuckles as he takes in her familiar scent. He ruffles her hair. 

"What's up, Els?" "Oh my god Georgie, there's so much to tell you. I hate girls. Did you know there's a new challenge where people shove an ice cube up...."

Bill POV:

The sound of Ellie's voice grows quieter and quieter until it's gone, as Ellie and Georgie walk towards the camp rec building. Bill turns to face his friends, who are already chattering up a storm. "Hey Bevvie," Bill says crossing over to give the girl a hug.

Bill still isn't sure how he got lucky enough to know Beverly. She's a firecracker, with a sharp wit, a sweet nature and a distinct coolness about her that puts her and Bill in two completely different leagues. Not to mention, she's also the prettiest girl he's ever seen. 

But this summer, Bill is looking for anything but romance. He refuses to still be hung up on Bev after a fateful kiss during truth or dare that turned into a crush lasting for years. This summer is for Bill to be Bill, with no attachments.

He snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Eddie lecturing Richie. Typical.

"Listen, do you know your chances of skin cancer? No, do you really? How are you supposed to be a role model if you can't be smart for yourself!" Eddie is holding a bottle of sunscreen as Richie jumps over and around tables and people to avoid him. "Eddie, my love, the sun is no match for my hotness."

A collective groan is let out by all of the losers before Eddie continues his lecture. "So I see that Richie is still Richie." Stan lets out a snort while Richie faux passes out directly into Eddie's arms. Eddie shrugs him off mumbling complaints. "Billy boy, I'm hurt And don't think I didn't catch that snort, Stanely."

"So what's the situation with the cabins this year?" Ben asks. Everyone turns to face Bev, whose aunt is the director. She scoffs. "You guys will get to choose your age group and draw your cabin color from a box. Same as always. Six kids per cabin, one you per cabin." 

"Well I'm applying for the seven and eight year olds this year," Ben says, toying with his landyard. "You'll be great at that," Bev says, "you were always great with Georgie when he was little." 

"Speaking of Georgie," Bill says with a huff, "the older he gets, the more he wants nothing to do with me! He won't even let me call him Georgie anymore AND I was the one who came up with it!"

"Just growing pains," Richie says, sliding off of the picnic table he was sitting on. "He's Georgie, he'll lay off eventually." Easy for Richie to say, Bill thinks bitterly. Richie and Ellie are the closest siblings in the world as far as he's concerned. Ellie's always attached at Richie's hip. In reality, Bill knows it's because Richie practically raised El, but it doesn't make him doubt his older brother skills any less.

"We better head to the mess hall for that meeting," Eddie says, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "Richie. Sunscreen." Richie groans, but obliges. Eddie has Richie right around his little finger, whether he realizes it or not. As they approach the building, they can immediately smell Rosie's, the camp director, famous cookies. "God, I love your aunt," Richie says, leaving a wet smooch on Bev's cheek.

This used to bother him, the easy affection Bev and Richie always display for each other, but after it became clear he was all in for Eddie, the jealousy died down. Bev and Richie tried dating in freshman year, but the two were clearly not meant for that kind of relationship. Still, their closeness makes everyone else question if they're together or not.

They find their seats at the same round table they've been sitting at since they were kids, with all of their initials inscribed under the table. As they settle in, Rosie begins the meeting. "Good morning, everyone! Welcome to day one of Camp Neibolt! I'm glad we see some familiar faces, (Richie sticks out his tongue at that comment, to which Rosie rolls her eyes), and some newcomers as well.

The Losers look around to notice a couple of new college-aged kids, as well as the same few counselors they already knew outside of each other. "Now to start, we obviously have to go over some safety procedures..." At that, Bill zones out. It's not that he doesn't care, but he's been a counselor since he was sixteen. He definitely knows the drill. 

"And now," Rosie says, drawing back his attention, "let's pick colors and age groups." All of the counselors line up and fill out sign up sheets with age groups listed. Bev chooses 13-14 year old girls, Richie takes 11-12 year old boys, Eddie takes the other half of 11-12 year old boys, Mike and Stan take 13-14s, and Bill joins Ben in the 7-8 year olds. 

Once all the slots are filled, they choose bandanas from a closed box with a slot. Richie screams in victory. "Yes, green!" "Wow, you've only been waiting three years for that one," Rosie chuckles. Eddie grabs gold, Bev gets red, Mike gets blue, Stan gets pink, Ben gets yellow and Bill takes orange. 

"Alright guys! Grab some cookies and be outside in fifteen. Your kids are coming!" There are cheers heard throughout the room as Rosie's cookies are served. Everyone gobbles up their cookies as Eddie tries to describe their sheer excellence. "It's like sweet, but also balanced. And it's so moist!" Eddie exclaims. "Oh, so just like you last night?" Richie teases. "Beep beep, Rich." Eddie says. Beep beep, coined when they were kids, is the Richie specific version of "shut up." It truly works wonders. "C'mon slowpokes,"Bill says, "time to meet the kids." 

The plaza is swarmed with kids and parents, as the losers set out to find their kids. They're all split up by age, due to Stan's genius plan of marking tents by age group and gender, concocted by Stan's genuine annoyance and impatience. At least it made everyone's lives easier, that's for sure. Bill walked to the seven and eights tent with Ben, where adorable, chubby faces were waiting. Bill loved working with little kids. It reminds him of little Georgie, who always loved to play with him. 

"Hi guys!" Bill says, "I'm Bill and this is Ben. We're this years boys cabin counselors. We're gonna have tons of fun this summer!" "Could Johnnie, Zach, Tuck, Evan, Mark and Matty please come with me?" Ben says. He and the kids break away and Bill looks at his group. There's a few familiar faces, but half of his group is new. "So again guys, I'm Bill. Some of you might know me, or even my little brother Georgie. Our cabin color is orange, which is pretty awesome. So the first thing I wanna do is show you guys the cabin and then we'll get to know each other." Bill waits until the goodbyes are over.

Most of the kids run ahead when Bill points out their cabin, but one kid still hesitates as he watches his parents walk away. "Hey," Bill says, "What's your name?" "I'm Jack," the boy replies. "Well, Jack," he says, "I can tell it's your first time here. But here's a pinky promise. Camp Neibolt is the coolest camp ever. I promise that we're gonna have a great time." The boy hesitantly links his pinky in Bill's and together they begin walking up the hill, Bill pointing out landmarks for Jack.

When they enter the cabin, and dole out bed assignments- Bill lets them choose themselves, Bill has them sit in a circle on the floor. They start playing an icebreaker, and he talks to kids he already knows, like Carlos and Jake, and meets the other newbies: Connor, Landon and Chip. 

After that's finished, he lays down the rules. "Okay boys, lights out at 8, bedtime at 8:30. No fighting, we're all here to have fun. This is your assistant counselor," he says, pointing out a lanky boy of about 15. He's worked with him before. "His name is Elliot. When I'm not here, you listen to Elliot. He sleeps in your cabin, I do not. Got me?" After a couple of nods, he continues to play icebreaker games with the boys, and takes them out for a game of four square. Then, it's time for campfire.

Bill herds his group onto one of the long benches surrounding an already lit fire. He helps hush the kids as Rosie begins to speak. "Welcome to camp! I'm Rosie, and I'm the director. I'm so excited to spend the summer with all of you. We'll talk more during morning meeting tomorrow. But for now, let's celebrate!" 

Richie grins and pulls out his guitar. This is his favorite part- teaching the camp song, that he wrote himself. "Hey guys, I'm Richie, captain of Cabin Green and coolest counselor alive!" He got a couple giggles and a wolf whistle. "Thank you, thank you. Now, we have a little tradition at this camp and that's our camp song. Don't worry about sounding good, Eddie sounds like a dying cat when he does!" he says cheerily, as Eddie subtly flips him off, hopefully, out of the campers' eyesight. He strums his guitar and begins singing.

"Welcome to the coolest camp  
Cooler than a lava lamp  
Here we like to have some fun  
And everyone's the smelly one!  
Camp Neibolt  
Camp Neibolt  
Camp Neibolt!"

All of the losers join him at the end to say "And we're the Losers!"

Soon, Richie had the whole camp dancing and singing with glee. It was a stupid little tune that Richie made up to comfort a crying kid one time, but it was quickly adopted into the campfire tradition. It was just one of those things that made Camp Neibolt so special to the losers. 

After a long night of s'mores and games and preventing kids from setting on fire, Bill headed towards the counselor's cabin, where he flopped into the bottom bunk of his shared bed with Stan. He already set his stuff out before, so he was ready to sleep. He texted Georgie a quick good night (he knows that bastard snuck his phone), and put in his earplugs, because Richie literally talks all night. 

“Good night, don’t let Richie bite!,” chirps Stan. Bill hears the sound of pillow being thrown, but he couldn’t care less. With the crazy day ahead of them tomorrow, he needs all the rest he can get.


End file.
